Cooling tower



Feb. 27, 1940. .',T. MART 2,1913938 v, COOLING TOWER Filed May 9, 49:58

3rm'entor 1 La 072 Z'MQZE.

Patented Feb. 27, 1940 a UNITED STATES 30laims.

This invention relates to cooling towers and has for its object to-produc'e an induced draft tower in which the air is drawn into the tower and progressively increases in velocity throughthe' tower until it is discharged upwardly at its maximum speed. With this arrangement the pumping head may be reduced as it is found that the overall height of the tower may be less than with forced draft towers where vertical height must 0 be wasted in the formation of a plenum chamdischarged so that it can not circulate back through the tower as now frequently occurs in forced draft towers, where the air enters at high speed and exits at low speed. a

A further object of the invention is to produce a construction in which the horizontal flow of the cooling air at relatively low velocity, avoids the drift or concentration of the water, which .interferes with cooling efficiency in forced draft V 80 types where horizontal air flow is maintained.

Another object of the invention is to produce a cooling structure in which the air passes horizontally through water that is gravitating downwardly in finely-comminuted form, and particularly in that class of equipment in which the water cooling chamber is filled with a series of vertically spaced splash or trickle decks, and the air is divided into a multiplicity of streams or currents between each of the decks. Heretofore 40 this type of equipment has not proven entirely satisfactory due to the fact that the water tends to drift or pile up toward the side of the cooling chamber in which the air is travelling with the result that the efliciency is lowered to a considerable degree and the air tends to travel in diagonal lines to the fan and create areas of local or eddy circulation.

A further object of the invention is to produce an air guiding means so formed and disposed that creation of eddy or local currents due to the interference of one horizontal steam with another, is entirely avoided, the result be-.

ing that the overall efiiciency of the equipment is greatly increased.

so A still further object of the invention is to 2,191,938 ooomte 'rowna Mart, Mission Township, Johnson County, Kans.

. Application May 9, 1938, Serial No. 206,771

PATENT o ncE mussuw an e 1% produce induced draft cooling equipment involving a cooling chamber and a discharge or drift deposition chamber, said cooling chamber having vertically spaced splash decks of equal area from bottom to top of the cooling chamber in its preferred embodiment, and the top of the discharge chamber having a fan for inducing horizontal air flow between the cooling tower decks, together with water eliminating and air baiile means tending to equalize the flow throughout the height of the cooling chamber and avoid eddies in the discharge chamber.

With the general objects named in view and others as will hereinafter appear, the invention consists in certain novel and useful features of construction and organization of parts as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be fully understood, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a cross section through a cooling tower embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 11-11 of Figure 1.

In the said drawing, where like reference characters identify correspondingparts in all of the figures, the invention essentially comprises a cooling tower having a water cooling chamber or casing I, and a discharge or drift deposition chamber or casing 2, the cooling chamber having in one of its side walls, an air entry opening directly opposite the point of communication between the discharge and cooling chambers. The cooling air entry opening extends for the full width and height of the tower and is preferably provided with the louvers 3, and is provided with any suitable means at its upper end for the distribution of water, such as the trough members 4.

The ends and the top of the cooling chamber. i

are closed as by end wallsi and a top covering 6 to prevent the entry of air except through the louvered opening 3. By thus confining airentry to one opening the full height and width of'the cooling chamber, a horizontal air flow through said chamber as induced by the fan 1 at the upper end of the discharge casing, is secured. By preference, the fan I is mounted within an annular flaring metal shield which has been found to so guide the air into the fan that 'practically the entire length of the fan blades are performing useful work when the fan is in operation. The bottom 8 of the cooling chamber is a collecting basin from which water flows to a central collecting basin 9 below the discharge chamber 2.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention,

ing, the cooling chambers I are built in duplicate on opposite sides of the fan equipped discharge chamber 2, divided into two sections by a partition II to avoid conflict between the opposite moving air currents, but, of course, this arrangement is optional and depends upon the-volume to be handled and the area available for the installation of the tower.

With a construction of the general character outlined, it will be found that without means to guide and direct the air currents flowing horizontally through the cooling chambers I, as induced by the fan I, the turbulence created by the fan will tend to set up local or eddy currents within the lower part of the discharge casing, and in addition thereto the air tends to take the shortest path to the fan, which results in a more or less diagonally upward travel of air from the right-hand lower corner to the upper left-hand corner of the cooling chamber shown to the right in Figure 1. As a result, the water gravitating in said chamber for a substantial part of its travel is subjected only to the effect of local or eddy currents which will whirl around and around in the lower left-hand portion of the cooling chamber. Such a tower, therefore, is ineflicient and the expense of fan operation under some conditions becomes commercially impracticable.

It has further been found that even if the air is retained or confined to more or less independent horizontal paths through the cooling chamber l, as soon as it enters the discharge chamber 2, it tends to travel diagonally upward on the shortest path to the fan. Thus the center or lower left-hand portion of the discharge chamber is a non-working area, in which local or eddy currents are free to circulate and lower the efliciency of the installation by interfering with the free travel of air to the exhaust fan.

My object, therefore, is to overcome the above defects by providing air guiding or baille elements, which may be suchas the inclined louvers l2, with the result that the air currents travelling through the cooling chamber move in horizontal parallel paths, and will continue their horizontal travel until they strike the guiding means l2 by which they are turned to travel vertically upwardly, at an increased speed if the cross-sectional area of the discharge chamber is less than that of the cooling chamber. With this arrangement the tendency of the air to travel the shortest path is overcome, resulting in more effective utilization of the air in the cooling chamber as well as the more even distribution of the air throughout the discharge chamber, so that there are no voids or blank spots for eddy currents.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a construction embodying all of the features of advantage set forth as desirable, and while I have described and illustrated the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that I reserve the right to all changes within the spirit of the invention and without. the ambit of the prior art.

I claim:

1. In heat exchange apparatus, a cooling tower comprising a casing formed with a central discharge chamber and a pair of cooling chambers at diametrically opposite sides of the discharge chamber, a plurality of vertically spaced cooling decks in each cooling chamber, all of said decks being of equal area, air entry openings on the sides of the cooling chambers opposite their con-' nection with the discharge chamber, an upwardly discharging fan at the upper end of the air discharge chamber, an imperforate partition dividing the discharge chamber into two equal sections at right angles to the cooling chambers, said partition being continuous for the full heightv of the cooling chambers, baflie means in each dishorizontally and in substantially uniform volume in parallel streams across the entire deck areas between adjacent pairs of decks, and means for discharging water onto each of the uppermost decks for downward trickle from deck to deck.

2. In heat exchange apparatus, a cooling tower comprising a casing formed with a central discharge chamber and a plurality of cooling chambers, each cooling chamber communicating at one end with the central chamber, the opposite end of each cooling chamber communicating directly with the exterior of the cooling tower, the top, bottom and sides of each cooling chamber being closed to form a horizontal air guiding conduit, a'partition dividing the discharge chamber into independent sections corresponding in number to the number of cooling chambers to prevent horizontal cross draft from one cooling chamber through another, baflle means in each discharge chamber section intercepting the air flowing through such section to equalize the flow of air horizontally and in substantially uniform volume in parallel streams across the entire cross sectional areas of their respective cooling chambers and to effect deposition of water entrained by said air, an upwardly discharging fan at the upper end of the discharge chamber, and water distributing means for discharging water at the top of each cooling chamber for gravitating downwardly therethrough.

3. In heat exchange apparatus, a cooling tower comprising a casing formed with a central discharge chamber and a pair of cooling chambers at diametrically opposite sides of the discharge charge chamber section to equalize the flow of air chamber, a plurality of vertically spaced cooling decks in each cooling chamber, air entry openings on the sides of the cooling chambers opposite their connection with the discharge chamber and coextensive with the height and width of. said decks, a partition dividing the discharge chamber into a pair of independent sections, each section communicating with a cooling chamber, bame means in each discharge chamber section to,

equalize the flow of-air horizontally and in substantially uniform volume in parallel streams across the entire deck areas between adjacent pairs of decks and to eflect deposition of water entrained by said air, an upwardly discharging fan at the upper end of the discharge chamber, and water distributing means for discharging water at the top of each cooling chamber for gravitating downwardly therethrough.

. LEON T. MART. 

